North Sea Jazz mourns ‘driving force’ Jos Acket

North Sea Jazz Festival (NSJF) has remembered Jos Acket as a “driving force behind the scenes” in the wake of her passing aged 91.

Born in The Hague, Acket was the widow of the Mojo Concerts-promoted Dutch festival’s founder Paul Acket and handled the business side of the operation.

“The festival owes a lot to her determination, gut feeling and business sense,” says the festival team. “Jos worked intensively for the festival in the 70s, 80s and early 90s and was involved in all important decision-making.”

After Paul Acket died in 1992, she handed over the management of the festival to Mojo, which had also been involved in the inaugural edition in 1976.

In 2005 she received NSJF’s Bird Award (since renamed the Paul Acket Award) in recognition of her contribution to the event.

“We remember Jos as an extraordinary and strong woman with a great passion for arts and culture”

“Although Jos Acket had not been actively involved in the organisation for many years, her love for the festival remained strong,” adds the tribute. “She continued to attend the festival with her family until a very old age.

“We remember Jos as an extraordinary and strong woman with a great passion for arts and culture. She personally contracted and trained many interns and employees for a job in the cultural sector. A number of them still work with a lot of love and passion for the festival among which the current talent buyers/programme-managers of the event.”

North Sea Jazz Festival, which relocated from The Hague to Rotterdam in 2006, returns from 11-13 July with acts such as Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Jacob Collier, Joe Bonamassa, Ezra Collective, Maxwell, Kamasi Washington and Omah Lay.

Director Jan Willem Luyken stepped down last November after almost 20 years in the position to become chief commercial officer (CCO) of Mojo. He was succeeded by Irene Peters, formerly business director at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome.

Luyken spoke to IQ last year about the secret behind the 30,000-cap festival’s decades-long legacy.

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